The project is directed toward the development of new cell-growth promoters that will have applications to wound-healing therapy and the development of more efficient and economical tissue culture media. They also might find use as biochemical probes of cell signaling pathways. Sphingosylphosphorylcholine has been found by Professor Sarah Spiegel (Georgetown University) to be a very potent promoter of cell proliferation, a discovery that is the subject of a current patent application. The proposed project will provide Prof. Spiegel with 15-20 compounds related to sphingosylphosphorylcholine (SPC) in order to test them for cell-growth stimulatory activity. The aim is to develop feasible chemical syntheses of SPC and its analogs and to discover the structural parameters responsible for the growth promoting activity.